Users blindly trust the brands that have been highly renowned in the industry for long. So, when any game, app or software comes up from any such reputable company, they tend to download it plainly without thinking about mobile security or data privacy because they are sure that the developers have taken care of it. But, what if the developers haven’t considered working upon it!? The user security is at great risk in such a case!
This is the reason you need to be proactive on building apps with complete security not only to help retain your customers’ security but also your brand value. According to Gartner, more than 75% apps would fail a security test and almost 78% of the top 100 Android and iOS apps have been hacked. If you are working with an app developer to build you app, you need to make sure that you are having the most secure mobile application development from him. Here are some essential security fields you must consider while building an app to help consumers against vulnerable attacks.
Data storage
For activating the payment portion of an app, users enter their passwords only once and then use it again and again to make further purchases without having to re-input their user name and password because it gets stored in the app’s memory. This is great for the users in terms of convenience but, what about security? Are the users’ names and passwords stored securely? Many apps store user credentials in plain text format, without any form of encryption. This leads to leaking out all users’ information, which can be used by hackers. Also, people often use the same username and password across multiple accounts. This means that once hackers find information about your username and password, they can easily access all your accounts. If you are developing an app, you must design it in such a way that all credentials of users are stored securely within an encrypted data section.
Data leakage
Apps target on grabbing all personal data of the users so that they can personalize marketing offers to consumers and give them the best and most appropriate products and services. But, you must remember that in the process of grabbing all personal data, you do not compromise on customer privacy. Do not use low grade analytics providers and advertising APIs. You must keep an eye on what, how, when and where the data moves.
Transport Layer Protection
Another issue faced in mobile apps is that of SSL. The SSL certificates are not verified, and a lack of proper transport layer protection is an invitation to hackers. The flow of data between the app and server should have strong encryption or else hackers can easily hack data and get hold of sensitive information. To avoid this, you need to have TLS/SSL encryption integrated with powerful algorithms between communications.
Server side controls
To prevent unauthorized users from accessing your app, the servers that it uses for retrieving and storing data should have security protocols because weak server side controls invite hackers too. For this, the load on servers should be reduced to the minimum. This can be done by validating the information entered into the app before being sent to the server, the input data should be converted into the simplest form to simplify data processing and the output given to the users should be encoded.
With these security features taken care of, you can be sure of having the best, smoothest and most secure mobile application development.
